Exodus 4
4
Miraculous Signs for Moses
1Moses answered, “What if they won’t believe me and will not obey me but say, ‘The Lord did not appear # 4:1 Ex 3:18; 6:30 to you’? ”
2The Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand? ”
“A staff,” he replied.
3“Throw it on the ground,” he said. So Moses threw it on the ground, it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4The Lord told Moses, “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail.” So he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand. 5“This will take place,” he continued, “so that they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” # 4:1–5 Ex 3:6,15; 4:17,20; 19:9
6In addition the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was diseased, resembling snow. # 4:6 A reference to whiteness or flakiness of the skin,# 4:6 Lv 13:3–4; Nm 12:10; 2Kg 5:27 7“Put your hand back inside your cloak,” he said. So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it had again become like the rest of his skin. # 4:7 Nm 12:13–14; Dt 32:39; 2Kg 5:14 8“If they will not believe you and will not respond to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the second sign. 9And if they don’t believe even these two signs or listen to what you say, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.” # 4:9 Ex 7:19
10But Moses replied to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent — either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to your servant — because my mouth and my tongue are sluggish.” # 4:10 Lit heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue,# 4:10 Ex 6:12; Jr 1:6
11The Lord said to him, “Who placed a mouth on humans? Who makes a person mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? # 4:11 Ps 94:9 12Now go! I will help you speak # 4:12 Lit will be with your mouth and I will teach you what to say.” # 4:12 Is 50:4; Jr 1:9; Mt 10:19–20; Mk 13:11; Lk 12:11–12; 21:14–15
13Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.” # 4:13 Lit send by the hand of whom you will send
14Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses, and he said, “Isn’t Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, he is on his way now to meet you. He will rejoice when he sees you. 15You will speak with him and tell him what to say. # 4:15 Ex 7:1–2; Nm 23:5,12,16 I will help both you and him to speak # 4:15 Lit will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. 16He will speak to the people for you. He will serve as a mouth for you, and you will serve as God to him. 17And take this staff in your hand that you will perform the signs with.” # 4:17 Ex 4:2; 7:15
Moses’s Return to Egypt
18Then Moses went back to his father-in-law, Jethro, and said to him, “Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still living.”
Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
19Now in Midian the Lord told Moses, “Return to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.” # 4:19 Ex 2:15,23; Mt 2:20 20So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took God’s staff # 4:20 Ex 17:9; Nm 20:8–9 in his hand.
21The Lord instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, make sure you do before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart # 4:21 Orwill make him stubborn,# 4:21 Ex 7:13; 9:12,35; 14:8; Dt 2:30; Jos 11:20; Is 63:17; Jn 12:40; Rm 9:18 so that he won’t let the people go. 22And you will say to Pharaoh: This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. # 4:22 Is 63:16; 64:8; Jr 31:9; Hs 11:1; Rm 9:4 23I told you: Let my son go so that he may worship me, but you refused to let him go. Look, I am about to kill your firstborn son! ” # 4:23 Ex 11:5; 12:29
24On the trip, at an overnight campsite, it happened that the Lord confronted him and intended to put him to death. 25So Zipporah took a flint, cut off her son’s foreskin, threw it at Moses’s feet, and said, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me! ” # 4:25 Gn 17:14; Jos 5:2–3 26So he let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” referring to the circumcision.
Reunion of Moses and Aaron
27Now the Lord had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. # 4:27 Ex 3:1; 4:14 28Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and about all the signs he had commanded him to do. 29Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites. 30Aaron repeated everything the Lord had said to Moses and performed the signs before the people. 31The people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had paid attention # 4:31 Ex 2:25; 3:7,18; 4:8–9 to them and that he had seen their misery, # 4:31 Gn 24:26; 1Ch 29:20 they knelt low and worshiped.
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Exodus 4: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Exodus 4
4
1And Moses answereth and saith, ‘And, if they do not give credence to me, nor hearken to my voice, and say, Jehovah hath not appeared unto thee?’
2And Jehovah saith unto him, ‘What [is] this in thy hand?’ and he saith, ‘A rod;’
3and He saith, ‘Cast it to the earth;’ and he casteth it to the earth, and it becometh a serpent — and Moses fleeth from its presence.
4And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Put forth thy hand, and lay hold on the tail of it;’ and he putteth forth his hand, and layeth hold on it, and it becometh a rod in his hand —
5‘ — so that they believe that Jehovah, God of their fathers, hath appeared unto thee, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob.’
6And Jehovah saith to him again, ‘Put in, I pray thee, thy hand into thy bosom;’ and he putteth in his hand into his bosom, and he bringeth it out, and lo, his hand [is] leprous as snow;
7and He saith, ‘Put back thy hand unto thy bosom;’ and he putteth back his hand unto his bosom, and he bringeth it out from his bosom, and lo, it hath turned back as his flesh —
8‘ — and it hath come to pass, if they do not give credence to thee, and hearken not to the voice of the first sign, that they have given credence to the voice of the latter sign.
9‘And it hath come to pass, if they do not give credence even to these two signs, nor hearken to thy voice, that thou hast taken of the waters of the River, and hast poured on the dry land, and the waters which thou takest from the River have been, yea, they have become — blood on the dry land.’
10And Moses saith unto Jehovah, ‘O, my Lord, I [am] not a man of words, either yesterday, or before, or since Thy speaking unto Thy servant, for I [am] slow of mouth, and slow of tongue.’
11And Jehovah saith unto him, ‘Who appointed a mouth for man? or who appointeth the dumb, or deaf, or open, or blind? is it not I, Jehovah?
12and now, go, and I — I am with thy mouth, and have directed thee that which thou speakest;’
13and he saith, ‘O, my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand Thou dost send.’
14And the anger of Jehovah burneth against Moses, and He saith, ‘Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I have known that he speaketh well, and also, lo, he is coming out to meet thee; when he hath seen thee, then he hath rejoiced in his heart,
15and thou hast spoken unto him, and hast set the words in his mouth, and I — I am with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and have directed you that which ye do;
16and he, he hath spoken for thee unto the people, and it hath come to pass, he — he is to thee for a mouth, and thou — thou art to him for God;
17and this rod thou dost take in thy hand, with which thou doest the signs.’
18And Moses goeth and turneth back unto Jethro his father-in-law, and saith to him, ‘Let me go, I pray thee, and I turn back unto my brethren who [are] in Egypt, and I see whether they are yet alive.’ And Jethro saith to Moses, ‘Go in peace.’
19And Jehovah saith unto Moses in Midian, ‘Go, turn back to Egypt, for all the men have died who seek thy life;’
20and Moses taketh his wife, and his sons, and causeth them to ride on the ass, and turneth back to the land of Egypt, and Moses taketh the rod of God in his hand.
21And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘In thy going to turn back to Egypt, see — all the wonders which I have put in thy hand — that thou hast done them before Pharaoh, and I — I strengthen his heart, and he doth not send the people away;
22and thou hast said unto Pharaoh, Thus said Jehovah, My son, My first-born [is] Israel,
23and I say unto thee, Send away My son, and he doth serve Me; and — thou dost refuse to send him away — lo, I am slaying thy son, thy first-born.’
24And it cometh to pass in the way, in a lodging place, that Jehovah meeteth him, and seeketh to put him to death;
25and Zipporah taketh a flint, and cutteth off the foreskin of her son, and causeth [it] to touch his feet, and saith, ‘Surely a bridegroom of blood [art] thou to me;’
26and He desisteth from him: then she said, ‘A bridegroom of blood,’ in reference to the circumcision.
27And Jehovah saith unto Aaron, ‘Go to meet Moses into the wilderness;’ and he goeth, and meeteth him in the mount of God, and kisseth him,
28and Moses declareth to Aaron all the words of Jehovah with which He hath sent him, and all the signs with which He hath charged him.
29And Moses goeth — Aaron also — and they gather all the elders of the sons of Israel,
30and Aaron speaketh all the words which Jehovah hath spoken unto Moses, and doth the signs before the eyes of the people;
31and the people believe when they hear that Jehovah hath looked after the sons of Israel, and that He hath seen their affliction; and they bow and do obeisance.
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